Madison exhibit of protest art cancelled

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An art festival called “Art in Protest,” described as a celebration of the creative expression that grew out of the mass protests in Madison against Gov. Scott Walker’s union-busting legislation, has been cancelled.

The University of Wisconsin-Extension’s School for Workers started organizing the event, which was to include more than two days of workshops, presentations and exhibits, last fall.

“In 2011, Wisconsin’s working people were confronted in ways unseen in decades,” a statement released Thursday by the School for Workers said. “The unprecedented citizen involvement in response to the governor’s proposal to severely restrict the collective bargaining rights of public employees resulted in a dramatic array of artistic expression.”

While school officials insist the event would celebrate the historic output of art from songwriters, poets, quilters, printmakers, photographers and cinematographers, some viewed it as a partisan event.

Rep. Steve Nass, R-Town of La Grange, expressed concerns about the event being sponsored and hosted by the school, for instance, and a spokesperson from his office met with Corliss Olson, director of the school, and Rosemary Potter, director of government relations at UW-Extension last week, according to a report in the Capital Times.

The timing would have been “right in the heat of the recall situation,” Nass’s spokesperson Mike Mikalsen told the Capital Times, referring to efforts to recall Walker.

By Tuesday, Olson had conferred with faculty and emailed those involved in organizing the festival, indicating that the event would not go forward. It was slated for late March at the Pyle Center on the UW-Madison campus.

“(W)e recognize that some might be unable to separate the art from the politics and we have concluded that despite our best efforts, it would be difficult to maintain the primary focus on art and respect for the culture of working people,” the school’s statement said.

The statement indicated that the school may seek a more suitable time to commemorate the art in the future.

“I am not even sure what to say in this case,” said Anne Katz, executive director of Arts Wisconsin, a statewide arts advocacy group. “I completely see all of the different sides that we are dealing with. I wish we could all have a reasonable conversation about what’s going on.”

There have been local exhibits related to last year’s protest in Milwaukee and Madison, and the Smithsonian Institution acquired some materials from the protests for its collection.

Dating to 1925, the School for Workers is the oldest labor education program at a university in the nation.

About Mary Louise Schumacher

Mary Louise Schumacher is the Journal Sentinel's art and architecture critic. She writes about culture, design, the urban landscape and Milwaukee's creative community. Art City is her award-winning cultural page and a community of more than 20 contributing writers and artists. Follow her on Facebook and Instagram.

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